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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359743">But the Garden Has no Buzz</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomGuygoesviral/pseuds/RandomGuygoesviral'>RandomGuygoesviral</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Quack Man The Mother Hen... Duck [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alexis | Quackity-centric, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Fluff, Forgiveness, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Internal Monologue, Pogtopia, Racing, Ram Hybrid Tubbo, Team as Family, Training, duck hybrid quackity, mama quackity supremacy, mostly - Freeform, quack man is doing his best</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:54:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomGuygoesviral/pseuds/RandomGuygoesviral</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Quackity wasn't really a... fighter, you know? He wasn't exactly good at any of the typical stuff! So why not, when tasked with training people, just go with what he did know how to do? Fake it! Make stuff up! Cover his tracks! He's pretty okay at that, at least until he pushes things too far and watches fear spread across someones face.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alexis | Quackity &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo, Alexis | Quackity &amp; TommyInnit, Niki | Nihachu &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo, Niki | Nihachu &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit, Niki | Nihachu &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit, Niki | Nihachu &amp; TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationships - Relationship, Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; TommyInnit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Quack Man The Mother Hen... Duck [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>424</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>But the Garden Has no Buzz</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So. My last Quackity and Tubbo as found family fic got???? Over 100 kudos in like five days???? what the fuck?????? i have some fics that have been posted for like two years that dont have that?????? THANK YOU???????</p><p>this one is simultaneously more and less serious. i uh,,, wrote it in a character voice so im hoping the internal monologue is fun!!</p><p>edit: hi so this got over 100 kudos in literally like nine hours are the mcyt fans okay?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All things considered: Quackity had adjusted to life in Pogtopia pretty quick. It was quieter than Manberg in all the ways that mattered. All of the loud faded into the background, peaceful chatter, background noise. Even if tensions were high, he’d found it to be much more of a community than Manberg was. And for a group of rebels? That was kinda, ya’ know, <em> yikes </em>.</p><p>Still… it was a welcome change. Not having to be constantly on guard, not having to keep on the face of someone who knew what the fuck he was doing (because lets be honest, he didn’t). It was all nice. Don’t even get him started on the fact that he didn’t have to wear a stupid stuffy suit anymore. That thing did <em> not </em> do him any favors. It was too boxy to even show off his figure right! </p><p>Anyways. Training sure was a thing they did there. He had a bit of an unfair advantage, honestly. Getting in the air sure made attacking folks easier. At least until they pulled out a bow. Which was a lesson the people of Pogtopia had learned very quickly. Nearly getting shot out of the sky was only <em> kinda </em> terrifying! </p><p>Everyone had a kinda ‘thing’ they were best at there. General stuff, but also specific types of combat. So they’d set up a system! One of them would lead training sessions while the others learned. That way, knowledge could be evenly spread without anyone feeling left out. Because, uh, as good as Techno was at fighting- he was kinda abrasive sometimes. Niki gently correcting the way you had your fists positioned was a nice change of pace. </p><p>The thing was, uh, Quackity didn’t know what he was good at! He wasn’t exactly skilled with any type of fighting! Sure he was <b> <em>okay</em> </b>, but being mediocre would just mean that he’d teach things everyone already knew! Which was a big no no in his book. </p><p>So they gathered around a half broken training dummy and he shifted awkwardly on the balls of his feet. Eyes scanning the people in front of him, Quackity couldn’t help but think he looked like a total dweeb. This was fine, he was chill! What could he possibly teach a group of people who were probably more skilled than him? </p><p>He puffed out his chest, raising his wings slightly, flipping them. It made him look a lot more confident than he actually was. Hah… wait. That was it! That was the thing he could do. Ah, yes, the art of bullshit! </p><p>“So, Big Q, what’s all this gonna be?” mused Tommy, cocking an eyebrow, pulling him out of his thoughts.</p><p>“Wellll…” Quackity hummed, eyes lighting with a fire that had been missing before,” I’m not much of a fighter, eh? So I’m gonna teach a little something less physical and a little something more mental! Faking it til you make it!” </p><p>In true Tommy fashion, Tommy immediately broke into a fit of laughter. The glare that he caught from Niki shut him up pretty quick, though. Or maybe it was the gentle nudge from Tubbo. Don’t know, don’t care. Quackity was officially in performance mode and he was going to ride this wave for as long as it let him! </p><p>Waiting for the blonde to calm down before he started, he quickly launched into an over dramatic speech. “See! Tommy, you doubt me! Buut- but. I’ll have you know: this stuff actually works. Because, you know, your enemy never actually knows how hurt you are, they never actually know how <em> scared </em> you are. That’s the thing- letting someone know you’re like- legit scared while fighting them? They’re gonna take advantage of that! So, you need to put on a brave face!” </p><p>He sprung up into the air for dramatic effect, keeping himself steady in one spot, leaning back,” Say someone you’re fighting is being loud. They’re screaming at you, telling you how horrible you are. It’s better to keep your cool than to get them more mad by fighting back, yeah?” - Tubbo caught his eyes for a moment, a beat of understanding- “Same idea with a physical fight. If someone is coming at you and you’re hurting? Pretend you’re not! In fact- pretend you’re better than that! If they don’t know how hurt you are, they can’t be confident that what they’re doing actually <b> <em>matters.</em> </b>” </p><p>The example of this was easier said than done. Because he had to be the one doing the fighting. He’d instructed Tommy, Niki, and Tubbo (Wilbur and Techno were off at the time) to discard their weapons and armour. With a little (a lot) of complaining from Tommy, they all three complied. This was an exercise on like- improv skills and ability to perform under pressure more than anything, he guessed. </p><p>Tommy did okay enough. Ish. Okay, no, not really. He ended up just shouting back at Quackity’s taunts and shrieking that he didn’t have any armour when he advanced. Maybe he was trying to play the pity card, but he was too well known for that. Everyone knew that Tommy was more than capable of handling things. Trying to pretend he wasn’t wouldn’t end up going well at all!</p><p>Niki did well! Like really well! If you looked too closely at her eyes, you could see the panic. Hear the way she hesitated. But still, she held her own for as long as the time was going. Dancing around Quackity’s questions, acting like she had a big plan when she didn’t. Honestly, he was impressed!</p><p>As for Tubbo, well… He didn’t do bad. Not at first. He did really well, actually! </p><p>Quackity started a timer, drawing his sword and taking a step towards Tubbo. ”So!” He laughed loudly,” What’re you gonna do now, Tubbo, I’ve got you cornered!” </p><p>A gulp of breath and the smaller boy’s eyes almost glossed over. Like something had clicked in his mind, a switch had flipped. “Maybe that’s what I wanted you to do.” </p><p>“Well…” Quackity hummed,” What could you possibly be doing? You don’t have a weapon or armour, you’re do-!” </p><p>“That you know of.” </p><p>A dumbfounded look fell onto his face,” huh?”</p><p>“I… I don’t have a weapon or armour <em> that you know of </em>. I could have some though, just you don’t know it.” </p><p>“Well do you?” Quackity puffed out his cheeks.</p><p>“Who’s to say?” </p><p>Playing out his role in the scenario- he advanced forward again. Now, here’s where he should have stopped. Tubbo was doing well, he seemed to be relatively calm and collected. It should have been more obvious that this wasn’t normal Tubbo behaviour. But in the moment, he didn’t notice that. Besides, Quackity was not exactly known for being the smartest man alive. </p><p>No, though, he did not stop there. He pressed forward, in fact! His tone got a little more aggressive, he didn’t notice the flair of panic in Tubbo’s eyes. There was a word to tap out with, anyways. If it was too much, all he’d have to say was pufferfish and he’d stop the scenario right then and there! That easy! </p><p>Quackity shouldn’t have started shouting, but he’d shouted at Tommy and Niki and it only seemed fair. To his credit, Tubbo held his composure a little ways into the yelling. All good things must come to an end, though. It was sudden, very sudden. Panic flooded his expression all at once and the smaller boy stumbled back. Quackity dropped his sword with a clatter and stopped talking as fast as he could, but it wasn’t fast enough. Before he had a chance to say a word, Tubbo had taken off into the depths of the forest. </p><p>Tommy seemed keen to run after him, but Quackity was already in the air. He yelled behind him for the two remaining people to take care of things. That he was going to get Tubbo and apologize. </p><p>Maybe it was just a fluke, he reasoned internally. Tommy shouted at Tubbo all the time and he seemed just fine! That was stupid, though. He knew it was stupid. For one: those two were best friends. For two: all of that yelling was light hearted. Even if it had been acting, Quackity was <em> acting </em> aggressive. Which was stupid. He was stupid. </p><p>He wasn’t exactly good at tracking things, so he just relied on his gut and rustling that was louder than normal. For a minute, he thought that maybe doing that had fucked him over. Tubbo wasn’t a super big guy, maybe he’d accidentally followed the wrong big rustling leaves sound? End up finding a horse and not a child.</p><p>Eventually, though, the rustling came to a stop. Quackity landed bumpily. It was impolite to be flying when confronting someone like this- obviously. He took a deep breath and walked through one last curtain of trees. The clearing he walked into was, quite frankly, beautiful. Flowers laced their way through the grass, poking up in a colourful array. Kinda made him hesitant to walk forward anymore, to be honest.</p><p>The soft buzzing sound mixed with sobs confirmed two things at once. One of them was the reason he was there (of course Tubbo would stop running as soon as he found a bee). The other thing was that he was, in fact, crying. Which Quackity didn’t like. Honestly, he’d never really liked the sound of anyone crying. But something about Tubbo specifically made his heart twist. </p><p>He took a breath, stepping forward,”... Tubbo?” </p><p>There was the soft sound of a gasp and some scrambling. Maybe he’d come on too strong? But he’d hardly said anything. Gah- he should have let Tommy go after him! Quackity wasn’t good at <em> emotions! </em> Still, he couldn’t ignore the panging in his chest. Feeling genuinely guilty and regretful for things really kinda sucked.</p><p>“Uh… I feel awkward just standing here but I don’t wanna like. Freak you out more or something so… I’m uh. I really kinda pushed things too far there, I shoulda backed off because- like- because I saw you panicking.” he rubbed the back of his neck. Very eloquent, Quackity. Said with about the tact of a ten year old. “I- er- sorry, dude.”</p><p>“It’s whatever.”</p><p>Yikes. Right, yeah. Cool. He wasn’t- what the fuck was he doing? This was not a man who knew how to <em> feel! </em> What was he doing? What was he- deep breaths, Quackity. You are calm and chill and this is fine. </p><p>“... Who did it remind you of? A reaction like that couldn’t of just been out of nowhere. Was it Schlatt? Did I remind you of Schlatt? Because if I did I’m so fuckin sorry, dude- I really didn’t mean t-”</p><p>“Q- Big Q,” There was a shuffling sound and Tubbo walked into view, rubbing his arm awkwardly,” It’s… it’s really fine, I just panicked a little, is all. Sorry about that. Sh- should I head back? I can almost hear Tommy shouting from here… heh.” </p><p>The stiff and anxious posture Tubbo was wearing kinda made it seem like he wasn’t ready to face people. Even to someone who wasn’t all that good with feelings, it was obvious that he wasn’t doing great. Quackity cringed as another feeling of regret passed over him. Sheesh, he was going soft. That was an issue for another time, though! Right now he was gonna… attempt to be comforting! Fake it til you make it, Quackity. </p><p>He strode up to Tubbo, doing his best to smile softly, and spread a wing out behind the other boy. Tilting his head slightly, he offered,” Walk with me a minute?” </p><p>“Can’t you fly?” </p><p>“Yeah,” he paused, biting back embarrassment,” but you can’t. Let’s walk and talk!” </p><p>“Um… sure.” Tubbo shifted his weight uncomfortably. </p><p>And off they went. The two of them walked in silence for the first minute or so. Quackity quietly noted the way the younger male seemed to relax as the drone of the forest surrounded them. He guessed it made sense for a guy who seemed to like so many natural things. Or… something, whatever. </p><p>Eventually, he piped up once again,” Ya know… you did really good up until the shouting bit.”</p><p>“I did?” Tubbo’s eyes lit up, shocked by the praise.</p><p>“Yeah! Yeah totally!” Quackity patted his wing against Tubbo’s back softly and reached up a hand to ruffle his hair- much to the other boy’s protest. “You did great! Seriously- you had me second guessing if you had a weapon or not and I watched you put your weapons to the side!”</p><p>Tubbo stopped abruptly, almost getting himself knocked over in the process, he turned to Quackity,” Really?”</p><p>“Hell yeah!” </p><p>“Hell yeah!!”</p><p>He bounced on the balls of his feet and punched his fists into the air. The way his mood was lifted practically lit up the forest. It was… sweet. Honestly, after everything? Good on Tubbo for getting happy in the first place! Some weird pit in Quackity’s stomach made him want to protect that smile. Gah- he really <em> was </em> going soft. </p><p>Still, he just kinda… flicked Tubbo’s forehead and snickered. The loud ‘HEY!’ he got in response was good enough for him. A beat passed and… Tubbo was in front of him. There was a glint in his eyes and without Quackity even realizing what was happening, he felt a pain in his nose. Had he- <b> <em>no!</em> </b> He got beat at his own game! Betrayal! Betrayal he said! </p><p>The moment he recovered from his shock, Tubbo had darted away from him, a gleeful laugh bubbling from his chest. He looked back for a moment, shouting about how he’d race Quackity back to the base. Of course, there was no way he was gonna back down on a challenge! So he sprung into the air! </p><p>“No flying!! That’s totally cheating!”</p><p>“It so is <em> not! </em>”</p><p>“You can fly over the trees! That makes you like a million times faster!” </p><p>“... You right. Still!” Quackity smirked, hitting the ground running,” Let’s put some steaks on this! Last one back has to steal one of Niki’s cakes!” </p><p>“Oh you’re <em> on!!!” </em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>uuuuh! yeah!!! i hope you enjoyed this fic! if you did: lemme know. i thrive off of comments /hj</p><p>really though, thank you for reading! as always: comments and kudos are always appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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